Unless the wine you drink comes out of a box, you probably empty a least a few bottles every month. And you probably drop the empties into a recycling bin. That’s a responsible thing to do, though just 28% of glass bottles get that treatment in the U.S. Apparently, most people just throw them away. [The link is to an EPA PDF.]

Not only does recycling keep the bottles out of landfills where they last eons — about one million years in fact — it saves energy. Recycling just ten bottles saves enough energy to run a laptop computer for an hour. [The link is to an EPA Excel spreadsheet that calculates the energy value of recycling various materials.] And for every ton of glass recycled, 1.2 tons of raw materials are conserved.

Of course, recycling consumes energy too. Recycling a bottle requires two-thirds the energy it would take to make a new one. If we can re-purpose a few wine bottles here and there, we can save energy and reduce carbon emissions. We might be able to save a few dollars too. Here are six ways you can re-use your empty wine bottles.

“Tiki” Torches
Add mood lighting to your outdoor parties, and shoo the insects, by turning some wine bottles into oil lamps with industrial chic. The photo below comes from Gerardot & Co. which also has complete instructions for the project. [If you like the blue bottles, you might drink some La Sirena Moscato d’Azul.]

Rolling Pin
The super smooth, non-stick surface of glass is ideal for use as a rolling pin. It works especially well when chilled.

1. Remove the label from an empty Cabernet-style wine bottle by soaking it in water. Make sure to get all of the glue off too.

2. Wash the outside of the bottle thoroughly.

3. Fill the bottle with water.

4. Reseal the bottle with a cork.

5. Put the wine bottle in the refrigerator.

Now you have a smooth, heavy, cold rolling pin, just the thing for rolling out pastry dough. The bottle full of water will help keep the temperature inside your refrigerator stable too, saving a little bit of electricity.

Candelabra
When we were taking a tour of Chateau Lafite Rothschild, we noticed they were using wine bottles as candle holders everywhere. But, the Chateau wasn’t doing it by shoving a candle into the neck of the bottle like some neighborhood spaghetti restaurant might  (though that’s charming in its own way). Things are a bit more formal in Bordeaux. They used inserts to turn empty bottles into full-on candelabras.

When we got back from our trip, one of the first things we did was track down those inserts. You can find nice ones for $20 or less. Just do an online search for “wine bottle candelabra insert.”

Tip: Make sure you fill the wine bottle with water, sand, marbles or something else heavy. If you don’t weigh it down, the bottle will be top heavy which is dangerous when flaming candles are involved. Using a Pinot Noir or Syrah bottle with a wide base will give you a more stable candelabra too.

Water Pitcher
This one is pretty obvious, but charming nonetheless. Just clean a bottle thoroughly, remove the label if you like, and fill with fresh water. I think colorless bottles look the nicest in this application.

A bottle takes up less room on the dinner table than a pitcher, looks nice and gives you a bit of bistro ambience. In fact, we had a very nice dinner at Bistro M in Windsor recently and they were using wine bottles in exactly this way.

Wine Storage
People spend a lot of money trying to preserve left over wine. You can use a vacuum pump, or spray a bunch of nitrogen into the bottle, before you seal it. Or you can insert one of those funny looking “wine condoms” into the bottle. They lay on top of the surface of the wine, theoretically reducing exposure to oxygen.

I don’t do any of that these days. The vacuums can pull delicate aromatics out of the wine, the gas sprays aren’t cheap and those inserts are just weird. Instead, I pour leftover wine into small, clean wine bottles.

We keep a number of bottles on hand for this purpose. Half-bottles get the most use at our house. Once you’ve drunk about half of your regular-size bottle of wine, pour the rest into a half bottle and seal it with a cork or whatever cheap or fancy stopper you prefer. Then, pop the bottle into the fridge. It’ll be good for at least a couple of days — even longer with some wines.

There will be very little oxygen in the bottle and very little surface area exposed to it. The cold refrigerator will also help keep the wine fresh, but the half bottle won’t take up much room. Take red wine out of the fridge about one-hour before you want to drink it. Whites are generally served colder so they take even less time to warm up.

We also keep a couple of empty 750ml bottles around to deal with the remaining wine from magnums. And, if you have a Piccolo, a 0.1875ml Champagne bottle, you’ll never have to abuse your liver finishing a bottle because “there’s not enough to save.”

Philippe Dambrine of Chateau Cantemerle shows off his assortment of bottle sizes.

If the wine ends up sitting in the fridge a little too long to be perfect for drinking, you can always use it as cooking wine. And if cooking is to be the wine’s sole use, you can even blend different wines in one bottle. If you do this, try to stick to one color of wine per bottle though.

Vinegar and Oil
We make our own vinegar at home from leftover wine. It’s better tasting than most of the stuff we could buy in stores and it’s free from artificial additives. Empty wine bottles are a great way to store the vinegar. We don’t pasteurize our vinegar, so we seal it tightly and refrigerate it. Pasteurized vinegar you can just keep in the cupboard.

On a similar note, some of our favorite high-quality olive oil comes in large metal containers. Those aren’t practical to use on a daily basis. We pour it into 375ml wine bottles which are just the right size for easy pouring. They don’t take up much space in the cupboard or on the counter either. Olive oil doesn’t like sunlight, so green or brown bottles are the best ones to use.

If you enjoyed this article, please share it! Icons for popular sharing services are at the right above and also below.

Follow NorCalWine on Twitter for breaking wine news, information on events and more. Become a fan and join the NorCal Wine community on Facebook. Also check outour comprehensive Northern California winery listings. They are very useful for planning a tasting trip or just getting in touch with a winery.

This article is original to NorCalWine.com. Copyright 2010 NorCal Wine. All rights reserved. Banner from photo by Wolfgang Sauber.

The Rhone Rangers Grand Tasting is always a good time. The great diversity of wine varietals is interesting and helps prevent palate fatigue. There are a large number of wines and wineries, more than anyone could taste in even a full day, but not such a huge number that you feel overwhelmed or have to wander through multiple halls. Attendees, both wineries and tasters, are friendly. And, while the tastings draw a big crowd, the hall isn’t so crowded that you get claustrophobic.

This year’s Rhone Rangers Grand Tasting was made even more interesting by the large number of non-wine vendors. Most of the companies were offering some sort of food that might go well with the wine. The Girl and the Fig restaurant served up some good duck cassoulet. Others had chocolates, flavored crackers, bread, paté, olive oil, etc. The SanTasti people had their palate-cleansing water and Aidells was there with sausage. There were also a few tables with wine bags, corkscrews. Soirée demonstrated their wine aerators.

One table that was not a hit with winemakers offered flavored water from ICIO. I didn’t taste the water myself, so I can’t make any comments on it’s quality, pro or con. What had the winemakers up in arms were some of the flavors and their potency. The peppermint was particularly reviled for it’s capacity to overwhelm the palate and make the wines taste lousy. I overheard one woman (a trade tasting attendee) say that it smelled and tasted like mouthwash. Perhaps it would have been better to give the water to people as refresher when they left the building rather than handing it out in the middle of the hall.

There were just under 100 wineries in attendance at the 2010 Rhone Rangers Grand Tasting. Most were from California, but there were a handful from Oregon, two from Washington and one from Idaho. Of course, I wasn’t able to taste every wine. I did make a valiant attempt to do so for the whites and managed to taste pretty much every white wine from Northern California wineries as well as a few from farther south and all of the ones from Oregon. That alone took about two-and-a-half hours, moving at a fast pace. After taking a brief break to wolf down a sandwich, there wasn’t much time left to sample the red wines. So, for those, I went to a few specific wineries that I know well in an attempt to get a sense for how the new releases compare to those in recent years.

Overall, the quality of these Rhone-varietal wines was very good. My general sense, and this was reinforced by other tasters and winemakers with whom I spoke, is that acidity, minerality and restraint are making a comeback. Excessive extraction, oak and alcohol levels are much less common. Naturally, these comments are relative to past California vintages. The majority of the wines are still heavier, fruitier and more potent than typical wines from the Northern Rhone in France.

Having tasted hundreds of Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Chardonnay based wines already this year, and having seen the same trends with regard to acidity, alcohol, extraction and oak there, I feel confident in saying that there is a broad movement among the better wineries toward a “less is more” approach. I have not noticed a similar degree of change in Pinot Noir though. Perhaps the feeling is that, though California Pinot Noir is a good deal heavier and fruitier than Old World or even most Oregonian versions, the levels of alcohol, oak and extraction in absolute terms are not so high as to necessitate substantial change. In any case, the Rhone-varietal wines poured yesterday were generally leaner than those in the recent past.

Another trend I see is the increasing use of Grenache Blanc for single-varietal wines. This grape, which has historically been used primarily in blends and not been copiously planted in California, seems to be gaining favor with winemakers. Most of the Grenache Blanc-focused wines I’m tasting now seem to be targeted at people looking for crisp and refreshing wines that are more subtle than Sauvignon Blanc. The majority of the wines are being made without any oak and with little, if any, malolactic fermentation. While I don’t think that Grenache Blanc is “the next Chardonnay,” I do find typical Grenache Blancs I’m tasting to be more attractive than the majority of New World unoaked Chardonnay I’ve had. If you’re looking for something new for Spring or Summer, something clean with good acidity and interesting minerality that will go with a range of light foods, check out some of the top-rated Grenache Blanc from below.

Without further ado, I’ll post my recommendations based on the 2010 Rhone Rangers Grand Tasting below. As always, bear in mind that this was a walk-around tasting, not a blind tasting. My judgement may have been affected by anything from the winemaker’s smile to the aroma of those Aidell’s sausages. I stand by my ratings, but reserve the right to change them slightly based on future tastings under more controlled circumstances.

For your convenience, I’m breaking the ratings into two sections. The first is the dry whites (and the one rosé I tried), the second will be reds. Within each section, the wines are listed in alphabetical order by winery name. Those wines for which no varietal is explicitly stated are blends. I only tasted one dessert wine and am not including that category of wine in this review.

WHITE WINES
Very Highly Recommended
2008 L’Aventure Roussanne Estate, $35
Highly Recommended
2008 Adelaida Cellars Viognier Glenrose Vineyard, $30
2007 Anglim Viognier Bien Nacido Vineyard, Santa Barbara County, $26
2008 Arrowood Vineyards Viognier Saralee’s Vineyard, Russian River Valley, $30
2007 Bonny Doon Le Cigare Blanc, $22
2008 Calcareous Vineyard, $28
2008 Clavo Cellars Viognier Apparition, $15
2008 Clavo Cellars Grenache Blanc Oracle, $18
2008 Clayhouse Wines Estate Cuvee Blanc Paso Robles, $23
2009 Clos Saron Carte Blanche, Sierra Foothills, $24 Sauvignon blend!
2008 Edward Sellers Viognier, $29
2008 Edward Sellers Estate Blanc, $35
2008 Epiphany Grenache Blanc, Santa Barbara County, $24
2007 JC Cellars Marsanne Stagecoach Vineyard, $38
2008 Katin Viognier, Paso Robles, $32
2008 Grenache Blanc, Paso Robles, $32
2008 Novy Family Viognier, Russian River Valley, $22 100% stainless steel, no ML
2007 Qupé Roussanne, Bien Nacido Hillside Estate, $40
2008 Sarah’s Vineyard Roussanne Estate Vineyard, $22
2008 Sierra Vista Viognier, $22.50
2008 Skylark Pinot Blanc Orsi Vineyard, Mendocino County, $16
2007 Sol Rouge Viognier, $32
2008 Stage Left Cellars The Go Getter, Central Coast, $34
2008 Tablas Creek Esprit de Beaucastel Blanc, $40
2007 Treana Winery, $25 [At present, this wine is on the border between highly recommend and recommended. I’m placing it at the higher level with the caveat that it needs 6 months to a year of bottle age, which is almost always the case with this particular wine.]

Recommended
2008 Adelaida Cellars Version, $30
2006 Anglim Cameo, Paso Robles, $22
2006 Arroyo Robles Rosé Estate Syrah, $21
2008 Bonny Doon Vineyard Viognier Dewn, $20
2008 Caliza Kissin Cousins, $28
2008 Carina Viognier, $22
2009 Cass Winery Roussanne Estate, $26
2009 Cass Winery Viognier Estate, $22
2009 Cline Cellars Marsanne-Roussanne, $16
2009 Concannon Vineyard Viognier, $15
2007 Derby Wine Estate Fifteen 10 White, $24
2007 Frick Winery Grenache Blanc Estate Owl Hill Vineyard, Dry Creek Valley, $27
2007 Frick Winery Viognier Estate Gannon Vineyard, Dry Creek Valley, $27
2008 Hagafen Roussanne Lodi, $18 [kosher]
2008 Halter Ranch Estate Vineyard Cotes du Paso, $24
2009 Holly’s Hill Viognier Estate Vineyard, $18
2008 Jemrose Vineyards Viognier Egret Pond, $32
2008 Justin Viognier, $22
2008 Lawer Family Viognier Three Coins, $24
2007 Lone Madrone Roussanne, $28
2008 Lone Madrone White Blend, $22
2007 Michael-David Vineyards Viognier Incognito, $16
2007 Michaud Marsanne Estate Vineyard, Chalone AVA, $40 [This wine was a notably viscous, if that’s not your preference in Rhone whites beware.]
2008 Miner Family Marsanne La Diligence, $38
2008 Pride Viognier, Sonoma County, $42
2007 Quady North Viognier, Steelhead Run Vineyard, Applegate Valley, $19
2008 Qupé Marsanne, $20
2008 Robert Hall Winery Viognier, $20
2007 Rosenblum Roussanne Fess Parker, $25
2007 Sarah’s Vineyard Cote de Madone Blanc, $27
2008 Sierra Vista Roussanne, $22.50
2008 Skinner Vineyards Seven Generations, $25
2007 Sol Rouge Gypsy Blanc, $28
2007 Stark Wine Viognier, $25
2008 Tablas Creek Cotes de Tablas Blanc, $25
2008 Tablas Creek Grenache Blanc, $30
2008 Tablas Creek Roussanne, $30
2007 Terre Rouge Roussanne, Sierra Foothills, $25
2007 Terre Rouge Viognier, Amadaor County, $25
2007 Terre Rouge Enigma, Sierra Foothills, $25
2008 Terry Hoage The Gap Cuvee Blanc, $32
2008 Thacher Viognier Hastings Ranch, $25
2008 Truchard Roussanne, $20
2009 Villa Creek White Blend, Paso Robles, $24
2006 Zaca Mesa Roussanne Estate Vineyard, $25
2008 Zaca Mesa Grenache Blanc Estate Vineyard, $25

Since I did sample almost every dry white wine offered [by wineries located from Paso Robles north in California] at the 2010 Rhone Rangers Grand Tasting, it’s fair for you to assume that if a wine is in the Grand Tasting catalog but not on my list I am not recommending it. That said, I would like to clarify two things. First, non-recommendation does not mean that a wine is bad. It may be quite acceptable but simply isn’t at the same level as those above. Second, there are a few wines which I simply didn’t get to at the tasting. I’m listing them below so that their absence from the lists of recommended wines isn’t misinterpreted.
2008 Clautiere Vineyards Estate Viognier
2008 Jada Vineyard XCV, $35
2008 Michael-David Roussanne Chicken Duck
2006 Pug Blanc Saralee’s Vineyard Russian River Valley
2007 Pug Blanc Saralee’s Vineyard Russian River Valley
2006 Renaissance Viognier
2006 Renaissance Roussanne
2006 Renaissance Roussanne Vin du Terroir
2007 Steele Viognier, Lake County, $16
2008 Steele Roussanne, Writer’s Block, Lake County, $16

RED WINES
Highly Recommended
2005 Domaine Serene Syrah Del Rio Vineyard, $45
2007 Edward Sellers Mourvedre, $45
2007 Fleming Jenkins Syrah Black Ridge Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains, $40
2006 JC Sellers Syrah, Ventana Vineyard, $30
2006 Kaleidos Syrah, $
2006 Kaleidos Grenache, $45
2007 Outpost Petite Syrah The Other, Howell Mountain, $50 [Needs 7 years of bottle age at minimum]
2007 Pride Syrah, Sonoma County, $60
2008 Shane Syrah The Unknown, North Coast, $38
2008 Shane Syrah Jemrose Vineyard, Bennett Valley, $42
2008 Shane Syrah Judge, $NA
2007 Skylark Syrah Unti Vineyard, Dry Creek Valley, $26
2007 Skylark Syrah Rodgers Creek Vineyard, Sonoma Coast, $36
2007 Skylark Syrah Stagecoach Vineyard, Napa, $40
2007 Sol Rouge Syrah, $32
2006 Stage Left Cellars The Breadwinner Central Coast, $42
2006 Stage Left Cellars Petite Sirah Russell Family Vineyards, Paso Robles, $40
2007 Villa Creek Mourvedre Damas Noir, Paso Robles, $40

Recommended
2006 Domaine Serene Syrah Rockblock Reserve, $40
2007 Fleming Jenkins Syrah Madden Ranch, Livermore Valley, $40
2007 Justin Syrah, $27
2007 Justin Savant, $45
2005 Kaleidos Syrah, $28
2006 Kaleidos Osiris, $28 [Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre]
2006 Kaleidos Morpheus, $34 [Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre]
2007 Outpost Grenache, Howell Mountain, $40
2007 Outpost Petite Syrah, Howell Mountain, $35
2007 Skylark Red Belly, $20
2007 Skylark, Grenache, Mendocino County, $26
2006 Sol Rouge Grenache, $36
2006 Sol Rouge Gypsy Rouge, $28
2007 Sol Rouge Mourvedre, $29
2006 Sol Rouge The Keep, $NA
2007 Stage Left Cellars Syrah The Escape Artist Watch Hill Vineyard, Los Alamos, $38
2007 Stage Left Cellars Syrah The Scenic Route Del Rio Vineyards, Rogue Valley, $38
2007 Villa Creek Garnacha Denner Vineyard, Paso Robles, $35
2007 Villa Creek High Road James Berry Vineyard, Paso Robles, $50

I tasted very few red wines, so the two lists above should be taken as isolated recommendations and no assumptions of any kind should be made about wines that are not listed. In many cases, I only tasted one or two wines from a given winery though they had more available.

Follow NorCalWine on Twitter for breaking wine news, information on events and more. Become a fan and join the NorCal Wine community on Facebook. Also check out our comprehensive Northern California winery listings. They are very useful for planning a tasting trip or just getting in touch with a winery.

This article is original to NorCalWine.com. Copyright 2010 NorCal Wine. All rights reserved.

Yesterday I attended the Taste of Mendocino event at the Golden Gate Club in San Francisco’s Presidio. This was a trade tasting so it was reasonably easy, even in the somewhat tight layout, to navigate the aisles and have brief conversations with the winemakers and proprietors.

There were hundreds of wines available to taste, of which I managed to try 78 in the roughly two-and-a-half hours I spent there. That’s obviously a fairly brisk pace and I did not take highly detailed notes, focusing instead on the general quality of each wine. All of the usual caveats about not making huge purchases based on impressions from walk-around tastings apply here.

My overall impression of the wines was one of slight disappointment. I found the vast majority of wines to have insufficient acidity to be really engaging. And, in many cases, the wines were simply boring. That is not to say that they were necessarily badly made or flabby, just undistinguished. Too many wines had fruit that must have been yawning as it punched the time clock before being prodded into the fermentation tank. And there were few wines with interesting non-fruit aromas and flavors.

There has been a lot of concern about smoke taint in Mendocino wines from the 2008 vintage. Aside from Phillips Hill’s Ring of Fire Pinot Noir, which intentionally shows some campfire, I didn’t find smoke taint in the wines I tasted. Given the overall quality of the wines I tasted, one’s concern shouldn’t be as much about finding taint in the wines but the quality of fruit that was left after all of the tainted grapes had been segregated.

All that said, I should reiterate that I was slightly disappointed, not appalled. There was certainly a lot of good wine to be had and the 31 best among those I tried are listed below. Generally speaking, the best wines came from “the usual suspects.” Most notable among the wineries I’d not tried previously were Trinafour Cellars and Chiarito Vineyard, whose Nero d’Avola was a crowd favorite. The latter also poured three Zinfandels which I did not have a chance to try.

Highly Recommended
2005 Bink Wines Syrah Hawks Butte Vineyard, $25
2006 Bink Wines Pinot Noir Weir Vineyard, $40
2009 Bink Wines Sauvignon Blanc Randle Hill, $22
2007 Chiarito Vineyard Petite Sirah, $35
2007 Chiarito Vineyard Nero d’Avola, $36
2007 Dogwood Cellars Zinfandel, $28
2008 Drew Wines Pinot Noir Fog Eater, $36
2007 Edmeades Zinfandel Piffero Vineyard
2008 Phillips Hill Pinot Noir Anderson Valley Ring of Fire, $38 [Intentionally made with a bit of residual smoke taint. The smoke is both mild and interesting, so it’s pleasant bit of added complexity and a conversation starter.]
NV Roederer Estate Brut, $20
2002 Roederer Estate L’Ermitage, $43

Recommended
2004 Barra of Mendocino Petite Sirah, $22
2008 Bliss Family Vineyards Pinot Noir, $18
2007 Dogwood Cellars Pinot Noir, Anderson Valley, $40
2006 Edmeades Perli Vineyard Zinfandel, $31
2007 Donnelly Creek Pinot Noir, $34
2007 Esterlina Pinot Noir Anderson Valley, $22
2007 Esterlina Pinot Noir Reserve
2008 Esterlina Riesling (dry)
2006 Foursight Wines Pinot Noir Charles Vineyard
2007 Londer Vineyards Pinot Noir, Paraboll
2007 Navarro Vineyards Chardonnay Premiere Reserve, $25
2008 Navarro Vineyards Gewurtztraminer, $19
2007 Navarro Vineyards Muscat Blanc Anderson Valley, $19
2008 Phillips Hill Pinot Noir Beeson Tree, $40
2008 Phillips Hill Pinot Noir Oppenlander Vineyard, $42
2008 Philo Ridge Vineyards Gewurtztraminer Ferrington Vineyard, $19
2006 Rivino Sedulous [69% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc, 1% Viognier], $28
2008 Rivino Chardonnay $22
2007 Trinafour Cellars Carignane, $22
2006 Trinafour Cellars Petite Sirah, $26

If you enjoyed this article, please share it! Icons for popular sharing services are at the above and below.

Follow NorCalWine on Twitter for breaking wine news, information on events and more. Become a fan and join the NorCal Wine community on Facebook. Also check outour comprehensive Northern California winery listings. They are very useful for planning a tasting trip or just getting in touch with a winery.

This article is original to NorCalWine.com. Copyright 2010 NorCal Wine. Banner photo is an edited version of a photo of Esterlina Vineyards by Ethan Prater. All rights reserved.

On April 22, V. Sattui Winery released an app for the Apple iPhone. Benziger Family Winery released an iPhone app using the same developer and template on May 7. Both apps have excellent ratings in the iTunes store, but no useful reviews there. I downloaded these free iPhone apps Friday and gave them a run through myself.

Summary
This is a comprehensive (read long and detailed) software review. I know that some of you just want to know quickly if the apps are “good,” what benefits they offer and whether you should get them. The following seven paragraphs give you that info in a nutshell. The remainder of the article provides a full walk-through of the apps and my additional commentary.

Both the Benziger Family Winery and V. Sattui Winery apps for iPhone are attractive, fast and effective windows into their respective winery. The Benziger app in particular puts details on all of their current wine releases at your finger tip. Both apps provide good information about the wineries and their events.

Multimedia and social media are a big part of these apps for iPhone. They allow you to quickly and easily follow both mainstream and social media news about the wineries. You can see winery and vineyard photos and watch informative videos they have produced. The apps are full of Wine 2.0 connectivity too. Almost every page of the apps allow you to share your thoughts about wineries, wines and news via email, Facebook, Twitter or on the app’s own Fan Page.

While the two apps were built using identical templates, there are slight differences. These differences are presumably based on the types of information provided to the developer by the wineries and options they chose. In general, the Benziger app provides richer content. There is much more detail on the specific wines in their app. They also provide many more useful links to areas of their website than does V. Sattui. For example, Benziger links directly from a wine in the app to that wine in their online store. V. Sattui does not offer any wine buying option at all. Given V. Sattui’s focus on direct sales, this surprised me. On the other hand, I think that Benziger Family Winery, which puts a big focus on biodynamic agriculture, has missed an opportunity by not having making a top level reference to biodynamics in the app.

The apps are not perfect, but they are substantially better than some apps from huge media corporations with (theoretically) big budgets. During my tests, I experienced only one crash and I suspect that was a web issue. There a few things things I would change in the interface, but they are minor and won’t impede your enjoyment of the apps or access to the information to which they lead. My biggest concern is that the apps rely very heavily on web connectivity. If you aren’t connected, there’s not much you can do with these apps. That said, they work well on 3G, so WiFi is not a requirement. I would prefer to see more of the text-based information resident in the app rather than served up via web links. That would make the apps slightly larger, but faster to access, easier to read and usable offline.

These are both very good apps. They represent the wineries well and should exceed your expectations. They make me want to hop in the car and visit the wineries. But, I’m a tough grader. I give the V. Sattui app 3.5 stars and the Benziger Family Winery app 4.5 stars. Functionally, the two apps are identical. The difference in ratings between the two is based on the amount of content and useful links they provide. As V. Sattui adds information via updates, I’ll increase my rating.

I recommend these apps highly if you are:
A current fan or customer of the wineries

Someone who wants to learn more about two of the most prominent wineries in Northern California
A winery looking for a model upon which to base your own app
A large media conglomerate which needs proof that info-centric apps don’t have to crash every 5 minutes

The Details
The V. Sattui Winery app is 3.0 MB in size and the Benziger Family Winery app 3.1 MB. Both downloaded very quickly via WiFi. I used both an iPhone 3G and an iPad with 3G for my testing. The apps are designed for iPhone, not iPad. That means that they will run on the iPad, but don’t take advantage of unique iPad features or the larger screen size. (The iPad has a feature which can magnify the display size of an iPhone app and this works with the apps, but the graphics in the apps get blurry because they were designed to be displayed at the smaller size.)

The apps load within about 6 seconds of tapping the icon on the iPhone desktop. When you load the apps for the first time, you’ll get two messages immediately. The first is a request to allow push notifications which would enable the winery to proactively send messages to you via your phone. The second message is a request for you to join their mailing list. You have the option of answering yes or no to each question.  If you choose “no,” the app doesn’t ask you again when you reopen it. As with many iPhone apps, this one does frequently ask to use your current location. Again, you  may choose “yes” or “no.”
Once you’ve gotten past these requests, you see the Home screen which features a nice photo. The winery name is at the top of the screen. Just below that is a button labeled “Recent Activity >”. At the bottom of the screen, there are five menu items. In the Benziger app these are Home, Wines, BzTV, News and More. In the V. Sattui app they are Home, Wines, Events, Videos and More.

Both apps include News and Events. Benziger chose to emphasize News and they put Events one layer down in the section called More. V. Sattui did the opposite. The Video and BzTV sections are functionally identical too, Benziger just chose to brand their section.

Selecting Recent Activity> takes you to pages that show social media messages. There are two different pages, Fan and Official, selectable via buttons at the top of the page. Both pages scroll to show multiple messages organized by day (ex. Today, 5 days ago, 6 days ago). The Fan page shows messages posted to the “Fan Wall” within the application. It does not show messages from the wineries’ Facebook Fan Pages.

Tapping on a message takes you to the app Fan Wall. Here, the interface becomes slightly confusing. To return to the Recent Activity screens, you need to tap on the Home icon at the bottom left of the screen. The button in the upper left that would normally say “Back” says “More” because the Fan Wall is in the “More” section of the app. This makes sense given the way the app is structured, but is slightly confusing and you may find yourself in the wrong section. Even more confusing is the fact that clicking on “Home” in this instance doesn’t actually take you to the Home screen but rather back to the Recent Activity screen.

To return to Home, you need to tap Home twice. This appears to be consistent within the rest of the app. This is because he app remembers what page you were last on within each section. So, if you’re on the Home screen and tap More, it takes you directly to whichever section you had been in, the Photos gallery for example, rather than to the top level More page that lists all of the pages in that section. I can see why they choose to do things this way, but I do think that it’s confusing. It’s made slightly more confusing by the fact that the app only remembers what page you were on during that session. If you close the app and reopen it, your last pages are forgotten.

The Official page within the Recent Activity section shows Tweets sent from the official winery Twitter account. It also shows notifications of photo uploads to the app’s Photos gallery. It’s possible other items may show there too, but only the items mentioned above appear at the moment. (It might be nice to show Facebook Fan Page updates.)

Tapping on a Tweet takes you to Tweets tab of the “News” section of the app. Again, to return to Recent Activity you tap Home. Tapping on a notification of photo upload takes you to the Photos gallery (in the More section). However, it does not open the specific photo referred to in the notification. Currently, there aren’t an overwhelming number of photos in the gallery so this isn’t a problem. Later, when there are many more photos, it might become tedious trying to find that new photo you want to see.

Tapping on the Wines button at the bottom of the home screen gives you access to information on what appear to be most, and may well be all, of the Benziger Family Winery current releases. The V. Sattui app shows only 12 wines at the moment. The majority of the Wines screen shows the wine labels in a “Cover Browser” style that lets you flick the central label left or right to scroll through all the wines. Beneath each label, the name of the wine is listed. At the top of the screen, is a “variety bar” on which the varietal (ex. Chardonnay) of the currently shown wine is highlighted. This works like the tabs on a rolodex. You can scroll left and right in the variety bar to see and select a different varietal. Doing so takes you to the first wine of that variety. There are also little “<<“ and “>>” symbols in the corners of the varietal bar. These don’t work very well though because they overlap the varietal names. It’s hard to tap on “<<“ rather than a variety.

Once you’ve found a wine that you want to know more about, touch the label. That opens a detail screen. At the top is the name, the variety, a thumbnail of the label, a red “like” button and text showing the number of times the wine has been “liked.” Below this section are two tabs. One tab is for Comments and simply shows any comments that may have been left by users about the wine. The primary tab is for the “Info” page. Here, the Benziger app provides very detailed information whereas V. Sattui just provides a brief descriptor of the wine. For example, “Rich estate-bottled Cabernet with aromas of cocoa and dusty earth, flavors of raspberry, herb and sweet oak.” Benziger includes several paragraphs on each wine, including the vineyard and winemaker’s notes. The latter includes alcohol percentage, dates (harvest, bottling and release), production volume, and info on yeast, total acid, pH, and both type of and time in oak.

At the bottom of the individual Wine screen are two “social media” tabs. On the right is a Comment button which opens up a text edit screen and keyboard so that you can write a message about the wine. On the left is a “forward icon” which opens a pop-up allowing you to share info about the wine via email, Facebook or Twitter. The email option automatically puts the name of the wine, a picture of the label and a link to get the app from the App Store in the body of the email. The Twitter and Facebook options do essentially the same thing, but you don’t have the opportunity to edit the message. I think that’s unfortunate as a person may wish to communicate more about the wine than just that it exists on the app. And I believe the feature would be used more often if people could personalize the message rather than sending out a generic advertisement for the wine and/or app. Using the Facebook and Twitter options require you to authorize MobileRoadie.com, the app developer, to push notifications on your behalf.

The retail price is not listed anywhere on the Wine Info page in either app. However, the Benziger Family Winery app provides a “Buy the Wine >” option. Tapping that takes you to another page that simply says “Buy In Our Online Store >.” Tapping that opens the Benziger Family Winery web store within the app, complete with the pop-up window asking you to select your state or opt for “pickup at the winery.” While taking you to the web store isn’t ideal from a convenience standpoint on an iPhone, it does seem to be effective. And, once you get through the initial pop-up, you are taken directly to the page in the store for the wine you had selected. Having experienced the feature in the Benziger app, I really miss it in V. Sattui’s.

The intermediate page listing only “Buy In Our Online Store” seems to have been designed with the idea that other purchasing options may be added in the future. These might include a “quick buy” option for repeat customers or deals with specific resellers that you allow you to buy from your favorite shop rather than winery direct. That said, the latter type of arrangement is always difficult to manage because of issues with inventory tracking, real-time exchange of data, etc. I wouldn’t hold my breath while waiting for such an option.

The third button at the bottom of the Benziger app Home screen is “BzTV.” In the V. Sattui app, this is labeled Video and is button number four. The buttons do exactly the same thing though. Tapping the button takes you to a scrolling list of videos provided by the winery. The list shows a thumbnails on the left, the name of the video in the middle and a comment button on the right. Tapping a video in the list opens it as a YouTube video within the app. Some of the  items are actual videos, others are photo montages with text and audio overlays. They all load quickly on WiFi. The load time was okay for me on the 3G as well, but your experience may differ depending on your exact location. Some of the V. Sattui videos are a little choppy, even on WiFi, because they are hi-res.

Tapping the “News” button at the bottom of the Benziger app Home screen takes you to an area showing the latest chatter about Benziger. [In the V. Sattui app, News is not accessed via the Home screen but rather from the More screen. News functionality is identical in every other way though.] The default News screen is Tweets. Using buttons at the top, you can elect to see all Tweets about and by the winery, only their “Official Tweets” or only Mentions. A button allows you to comment on the Tweets.
The other screen within News is called Buzz. It shows a scrolling list of articles about and accolades for the winery from the media.

Tapping an item in the list takes you to a digest page that shows the first 25 words or so from the article and the url. Tapping on the url or the headline link takes you to the article on the source website using the app’s built-in browser. You can also share or comment on the news item from the digest page.  The bottom of the digest page has forward and back arrows so that you can move through the various news items without going back to the main Buzz page. That’s very convenient.
The last button at the bottom of the Home screen takes you to the More section. The More screen shows the following list for Benziger: Photos, Events, Links, Benziger Bio, Store Locator, Mailing List, Fan Wall, and About. For the V. Sattui app, the list is as follows: Photos, Wall, History, Links, Mailing List, About, Accounts, News. Photos and Fan Wall have been covered sufficiently above.

Tapping Events (on the V. Sattui Home screen  and on the More screen in the Benziger app) opens a screen showing a list of upcoming events in which the winery is involved. [You can also choose to see past events.] Tapping an event in the list opens a screen with details about the event. This includes general information and other options that may include the ability to view a map, buy tickets, see who’s going, see or add comments, and view photos related to the event. Of course, you can also Share the event.

Beniziger’s Links item opens to the following list: Benziger Website, Come Visit, Shop our Wines, Events Calendar, Wine Clubs, Facebook, Twitter, Winemaking Practices, Our Story, The Benziger Family, In The News, and Imagery Estate Winery. Facebook takes you to their Fan Page and Twitter to their feed. Imagery Estate Winery in Sonoma Valley is within the Benziger family and that link opens the Imagery site. The other items open the relevant pages from the Benziger website using the built-in browser.

V. Sattui’s Links item opens to this list: V. Sattui’s Facebook Fan Page, @VSattui1885 (their Twitter feed) and Weather. Weather takes you to the Weather Channel web page for V. Sattui’s location. This is a very nice idea, but the site loads so slowly that, even on WiFi, it’s not very practical.

The Benziger Bio item in the More section shows a group photo of Benziger staff, provides a bit of winery history, information on their philosophy and some contact info. The Store Locator item takes you to that page on the Benziger site which allows you to search for stores by zip code. Mailing List opens a sign up form in the app.

About in the Benziger app is just legal text and a link to MobileRoadie.com. I believe this item is named inappropriately. To me, About should list details about the app: who made it, what version you have, when it was released and perhaps an option to check for updates. The legal disclaimers should be listed under a separate Legal heading.

The V. Sattui app About provides general info about the winery rather than legal text. However, it doesn’t provide any details about the app either.
These apps are said to work with iPhone, iPod touch and iPod running iPhone OS 3.0 or later. The apps support English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish. I have not tested the foreign language support. However, I suspect that the localization is for the app itself, not all of the specific wine information.

In Conclusion
My overall conclusions are in the summary at the beginning of this article. I won’t repeat them here. However, I would like to share some other thoughts. Both of these apps are good, but they are really compelling if you are a fan, particularly a local fan, of the wineries. If you live in the Finger Lakes region of New York, or in Europe, there’s not much reason to download them.

I think that Benziger could make their app a “ must download” for a vastly wider audience by leveraging the winery’s experience in biodynamics and adding significant content in this area. There is a big focus now being put on green initiatives by wineries, the media and consumers. But there is also a lot of confusion about how the different initiatives are defined, the differences between them, certifications required and definition of terms. Many people still think biodynamic growing is all about burying cow horns and dancing under the moonlight.

There are lot of “fan targeted” apps being released now. Not just wineries, but restaurants, clubs, car companies, etc. doing so. While these apps may be well executed and of genuine value to fans, I see a future in which there are so many of them that it will become impossible to find new ones above the noise. And, like those discount and membership cards for airlines, coffee shops and burrito joints, eventually people will stop using most of them because there are so many and it’s a hassle keeping track of them.

Eventually, the only apps that will get long-term and frequent use will be those which offer significantly more value than just connecting with a company and it’s products. As I suggested above, for Benziger that added value could be related to biodynamics. For V. Sattui, it could be expanding their event listings to include non V. Sattui events in the immediate vicinity of their winery. Once people are attracted to the area by some other event listed in the app, the odds of them stopping by the winery on the same trip are high. Or, they could offer recipes from their deli or information about Italian foods. Those are just suggestions and any company should be able to better pinpoint the right hook for their app than I. But I do hope such a trend starts soon.

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